Mar. 11, 2013

Rep. John J. DeBerry Jr., D-Memphis

Written by

Bob Smietana

The Tennessean

Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald

A bill in the state legislature would allow graduate-student counselors to reject clients for religious reasons.

The measure would bar schools from disciplining students if they decline to treat clients with “goals, outcomes or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student.”

It was inspired by a case in Michigan involving a Christian student named Julea Ward. She was expelled from a master’s degree program at Eastern Michigan University for refusing to counsel gay clients or clients who were sexually active but not married.

The bill was drafted by conservative activist David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, with help from Ward’s lawyers. A similar bill was signed into law in Arizona. Lawmakers in Michigan and Georgia have proposed similar bills.

The Tennessee bill would bar schools from punishing students like Ward.

The American Counseling Association, a national association for counselors, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of Eastern Michigan University. That brief claimed students should not be allowed to use religion to turn down clients.

Fowler said that claim violates the religious freedom of students.

“The legal arguments made by the accrediting bodies against Ms. Ward in her case made it clear that the trend in at least psychology is against religious liberty and in favor of government-mandated speech,” he said in an email.

But the head of the counseling program at a Nashville-based Christian university said the bill is a bad idea.

Jake Morris, director of the graduate program in counseling at Lipscomb University, said students need to be able to treat a wide range of clients, not just those who share their religious values.

“I want my students to be able to help anyone who walks in their door,” he said. For example, if a student thinks divorce is sinful, that student still needs to know how to treat clients who have gone through a divorce.”

Students, Morris said, should be exposed to a wide range of clients while in training. That will help them become competent professionals.

“We are health care professionals,” he said. “We need to act like it.”

Fowler also said the bill would require students to consult with their supervisors to refer clients to another counselor in case of a conflict so that no harm comes to the client.

The Senate version of the bill is sponsored by Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald. The House version is sponsored by Rep. John J. DeBerry Jr., D-Memphis. Neither responded to requests for comment.

The state Senate is scheduled to discuss the bill today, while a House subcommittee is scheduled to take it up on Tuesday.